More than 5,600 punished for frugality violations in January

BEIJING - More than 5,600 party members and officials were punished in January for violating the Party's eight-point frugality code, according to the top anti-graft body of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

They were involved in 4,058 cases, said a notice on the website of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) released Thursday.

Of the 4,058 cases, 1,155 were related to unauthorized issuing of subsidies or welfare, 844 were related to sending or accepting gifts or money, 566 were related to unauthorized use of official cars, 532 were related to using public funds for banquets, and 377 were related to holding lavish weddings or funerals.

Among those punished were 59 officials at prefecture or equivalent level, and 673 officials at county or equivalent level.

On Dec 4, 2012, central authorities issued the frugality code, requiring government officials to practice strict frugality and to clean up undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance.

The CCDI has a monthly reporting system for the implementation of the rules within provincial-level governments, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, central Party and government agencies, centrally administered state-owned enterprises and central financial institutions.

Some 71,000 people in more than 51,000 cases were punished in 2017, according to the CCDI.